Review of Personal Shopper (2016) by Spangle — 01 Apr 2017

After unequivocally loving Olivier Assayas' 2014 effort, Clouds of Sils Maria, his follow-up is a lot tougher of a nut to crack. Part-thriller, part-horror, part-mood piece, Personal Shopper truly evades definition. It operates at a safe distance from the viewer and refuses to be defined. By the end of the film, what is real and what is not real is really next to impossible to pin down. Personally, I have a variety of working theories, but whether or not any of them are actually accurate is another matter in and of itself. What is clear, however, is that this is a film about grief, identity, and mortality. Above all, it is a thriller that sets out to unsettle its audiences and make them think. To do so, Assayas' film is purposefully complex, dense, and tonally off. Even the editing, with many scenes ending abruptly and fading to black, is used to throw off the audience and make us squirm. Of course, this has the by-product of making the film appear to be lacking satisfaction. In many ways, however, this merely mirrors the issues of Maureen (Kristen Stewart) after losing her twin brother Lewis. Complicated, distant, and forever denying viewer access to its idiosyncrasies, it is no wonder that Personal Shopper has divided audiences.

One of the most obvious themes that Assayas introduces into the film is grief. Working as a personal shopper for model Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten) to support herself while also operating as a medium for the couple set to move into Lewis' old home, Maureen is constantly looking for a sign. Before he died, the two had promised to leave the other a sign. Whoever died first had to let the other know they were in the afterlife. Waiting around in Paris for Lewis to come give her that sign, she encounters a ghost that is most definitely not Lewis and also begins to receive mysterious text messages from an unknown number. While she is shaken, she approaches every situation where a ghost may be present with the same question: Are you Lewis? She cannot get him off of her mind and is constantly seeking to find out if he is alright and at peace. Assayas' film shows how grief can control one's way of life to the point that she refuses to meet up with boyfriend Gary (Ty Olwin) in Oman for a vacation. Instead, she does a job she hates for a woman she hates just to justify staying in Paris. In essence, she is a prisoner of her grief, which is not an original theme by any means (The Babadook being a recent example), but is well-executed in the film. Assayas injects incredible tension and fear as we wait to find out if the ghosts and noises she encounters are truly Lewis or some other being.

However, I have my doubts that Maureen is actually a medium. Whether Lewis was or not is unclear, but towards the end of the film, Maureen remarks how Lewis was always more in tune with that and she usually just copied him. It is entirely plausible that Maureen is not a medium at all. Rather, she is merely a girl suffering from a lost identity due to the shared one she had with Lewis. As he was her twin, it is possible she is trying a route he had taken in order to reach him. However, it does not work and either she meets unfriendly forces or she imagines them all. The latter, however, seems most likely with how awful she is at detecting presences. She notices obvious things in the walls or glasses breaking, but never seems to aware a ghost is with her until it is literally right on top of her. If she were a medium, it would stand to reason that she would be better at identifying when they are near. Furthermore, the ghostly text messages she receives where the sender claims to always be around her and sees what she is doing and wearing, certainly hint that there is a ghost around her. Possibly Lewis, the sender does seem to be a bit odd, but largely harmless for Maureen. However, what is clear is that either Maureen is not a medium or she is an entirely dreadful one, making it unlikely she ever actually encounters ghosts. Rather, it is merely a machination of her mind used to cope with the loss of Lewis in the only way he knew how.

One of the most important things that this ghost texter allows her to confront, however, is her sense of identity. Now, this is where this interpretation may lose some people, but I warn you that this is a film that demands multiple views. Coming off of one viewing, it is entirely possible I am off base here. Yet, there are three possible routes to take in regards to Maureen's sense of identity. One is the most logical one based on the film. Through encouraging her to try on Kyra's clothing, the sender allows her to try on a new personality. After expressing that she does not want to be herself, but is unsure who she wants to be, the sender allows her to try out new personalities to find one that fits her.